Lynda Bird Johnson Robb ’62 Recalls Her NCS Days

Lynda Bird Johnson Robb ’62 visited NCS on January 7, 2011 to speak to Upper School students and local alumnae in the Educating Women for the World alumnae lecture series. She treated her Procter Gym audience with a humorous, candid talk about her time at NCS and her experiences in public life.

Recounting what NCS was like in the 1960s, she said, “When my classmates and I get together now, we don’t talk about how much fun we had, we talk about how hard it was." She said that it was a very different school at a very different time, noting that the students in front of her “look a great deal more laid-back.”

She and her classmates wore uniforms, saddle shoes, and even long skirts for athletics because they walked by the College of Preachers on their way to the playing fields. If you missed a day of school, you had to attend study hall on Saturday.  When he was Senate leader, her father asked for Lynda to be excused to witness the Senate floor vote to admit Alaska and Hawaii as states. She was excused, but had to make up for it. “The school didn’t care who you were, the rules were the rules,” she said.

But she also emphasized, “I received a superior education at NCS, and felt right at home in college.” Her favorite subject was history; she remembers History Teacher Mrs. Acheson and a thick volume on ancient history that inspired her to want to be an archaeologist. One summer she helped excavate a kiva on an Indian reservation. She then discovered she lacked the spatial and drafting skills necessary to succeed in the field.

She advised her audience to pursue internships to try out many possibilities. “In your lives you’ll be paid for three careers, and have many more unpaid ones,” she said.

Despite her very public life as the daughter of President Lyndon B. and Claudia Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson, and the wife of former US Senator Charles Robb, Ms. Robb said she didn’t aspire to marry into politics.  However, her husband went from the Marine Corps to law school and then decided to go into politics, so, as she says, ”I’ve lived in two wonderful pieces of public housing, the White House and the governor’s mansion in Virginia.”

While she modestly describes herself as a “professional volunteer,” Mrs. Robb has made notable contributions, focusing always on women’s and children’s issues. She helped establish and served as chair of Reading is FUNdamental, the nation’s largest children’s literary organization; as current chair emerita of the board of directors, she still travels the country rallying community and business support for RIF programs. Mrs. Robb has served on numerous boards, received many civic awards and honors, and is the President of the National Home Library Foundation. She worked as a writer for McCall's Magazine from 1966-68, and was a contributing editor at Ladies' Home Journal from 1969-81, while raising three daughters.

Near the close of her talk a student asked what was her experience in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. “It was very scary,” said Ms. Robb. “Beyond being personally devastated—I knew and liked the Kennedys very much—my life completely changed.” Lynda, then a student at the University of Texas, returned to Washington, DC to live in the White House with her parents. She had Secret Service protection for the first time; today one of her bodyguards is the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate.

NCS is very grateful to Ms. Robb for coming and speaking to us—and we send her a Texas-sized thank-you!

Also worthwhile noting on this day, Head of School Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson delivered a timely Homily at Friday's Cathedal Service.  An audio podcast and transcript of her homily is available HERE.